Size and Condition.-The Pug should be a multum in parvo; but this condensation (if the word may be used) should be shown by compactness of form, wellknit proportions, and hardness of developed muscle. Weight to be from 13lb. to 17lb. (dog or bitch).

Body.-Short and cobby, wide in chest, and well ribbed up.

Legs. Very strong, straight, of moderate length, and well under.

Feet. Neither so long as the foot of the hare, nor so round as that of the cat : toes well split up, and the nails black.

Muzzle.-Short, blunt, square, but not up-faced.

Head.-Large, massive, round (not apple-headed), with no indentation of the

skull.

Eyes. -Dark in colour, very large, bold, and prominent, globular in shape, soft and solicitous in express on, very lustrous, and, when excited, full of fire.

Ears. Thin, small, soft, like black velvet. There are two kinds - the "rose" and "button." Preference is given to the latter.

Markings. Clearly defined. The muzzle or mask, ears, moles on cheeks, thumb-mark or diamond on forehead, and back trace should be as black as possible.

Mask. The mask should be black; the more intense and well defined it is, the better.

Wrinkles.-Large and deep.

Trace.-A black line extending from the occiput to the tail.

Tail.-Curled tightly as possible over the hip. The double curl is perfection.

Coat.-Fine, smooth, soft, short, and glossy; neither hard nor woolly. Colour.-Silver or apricot-fawn. Each should be decided, to make the contrast complete between the colour and the trace and mask.

In respect to size, it will be observed that the Club omits to note that weight should be relative to height, which is rather important. The Club has not given the Pug a neck, although that is not an unimportant part of the anatomy. In regard to "the moles on the cheeks," they now receive no consideration in the scale of points.

It was in the autumn of 1886 that black Pugs were first brought into notice, a class being given for them at the Maidstone Show, all the exhibits being from the kennel of the late Lady Brassey. Two or three of these were compact, good-coated specimens, Jack Spratt, whose name appears as sire of all the early specimens, being the largest that was benched. Where Lady Brassey obtained her first specimen was never then clearly stated; it was surmised that she became enamoured of a black Chinese Pug when she visited that country in her yacht the Sunbeam, and either purchased one, or mated a fawn female to a Chinese black dog. There is, however, some reason for thinking that black Pugs in England came from the fawns of King Duke's strain. Indeed, some breeders profess to have traced their history back to this dog. If they came from fawns, it seems just a little remarkable that they bred so true to colour as early as 1886.

For some years the breed did not gain favour, as there was a

disposition to lankiness of build and weakness in formation of head and muzzle. By careful mating with good-headed, compactly built fawns, however, the black variety soon improved, and to-day is in great demand. Its points are the same as those for fawns (colour excepted). It must be entirely black, free from white hairs anywhere. When the coat is about to be shed, it has a disposition to turn rusty in colour, but this vanishes with the new coat. Fig. 116 illustrates a present-day champion, and has been kindly lent by the Editor of the Illustrated Kennel News.

White Pugs did not win any friends when a few of them were

benched some years back. The late Mr. Hugh Dalziel, who interested himself in this sub-variety, considered they were too light in build to please connoisseurs; but this fault might have disappeared with time, as it did with the black variety. Anyway, we never see any exhibited now, or hear of them being bred. Rough-coated or long-haired Pugs are not very numerous, but they have appeared most frequently in the kennels owned by Mrs. Tulk and Miss Garniss. Only at intervals do they appear; and they always come from the strain owning Moss and Lamb as ancestors. These two dogs were said to have been "captured" at Pekin well on to fifty years ago, and it is considered possible they may have had in their

veins the blood of a long-coated Chinese dog.

Mrs. Tulk has been

successful in also breeding a long-coated black Pug. The tail has long, straight hair on it, the legs are feathered after the style of a Toy Spaniel or Pekinese dog, but in build the dog resembles the smooth-coated Pug as bred in England to-day.

In the breeding of Pugs it is important that the brood bitch comes from a good strain; and the mate should be selected chiefly for his ability to produce the points she is deficient in. Should

she be small in head and narrow in muzzle, it would be well to select for her a dog getting big skulls and wide jaws, and the large, open nostrils which are such an improving feature in a Pug, whether black or fawn. Avoid selecting one whose progeny soon go grey in muzzle, or whose front legs are not perfectly straight.

When a bitch is in whelp, she should have regular exercise up to the seventh week, after that only such as she really seems inclined for, after she has had a short run near home daily; and her food should be such as is likely to keep up her strength without causing grossness. Clean, fresh water should be provided for her daily. Puppies should be entirely removed from the mother just before they are six weeks old, but they may be gradually weaned and taught to lap at the end of the fourth week. When Pug puppies are born, their ears are laid back flat from the face, but they gradually fall into position, and the tip of the ear should be in a line with the eye.

In selecting a puppy, avoid those who drop down in fore face. The top of the nostril should be, as near as possible, in a line with the lower part of the eye. The colour of the ears also should be well considered, for the light ones do not always become black with age, although this occasionally happens. Shortness of body, width of chest, and curl of tail, are all to be desired. In selecting a female puppy with a view to breeding with her, choose one that is not very small, and she may be with advantage rather longer in body than is desirable in a show specimen.

Pugs require comparatively little preparation for the show-bench compared with other breeds. A warm bath, followed by a nearly cold rinse, should be given the day before they are to be benched. When thoroughly dry, the coat may be rubbed with the hand for some time, or with a silk cloth or a wash-leather, to produce a nice, glossy appearance; the first method is usually the more satisfactory.

Pugs, when made a companion of man, show fairly high intelligence as house-dogs they are ever on the alert, and promptly give notice of a stranger's approach; and from their extremely activeone may say, merry-habits, they are most interesting pets, and well repay by their gratitude any affection and kindness bestowed on them. One quality they possess above most breeds, which is a strong recommendation for them as lap-dogs, and that is their

cleanliness, and freedom from any offensive smell of breath or skin.

Many ladies, by lavishing mistaken kindness on their Pugs, do them serious harm. Over-feeding, feeding too often, and on too rich diet, together with insufficient exercise, cause obesity, with a host of evils in its train-asthma among others—which make the dog's life a burden to itself, and a cause of discomfort to the owner. Nothing does so well for house-dogs as plain biscuits, dry bread, varied with a few scraps of lean meat from the stock-pot, a little gravy, and boiled green vegetables-such as cabbage, turnips, and carrots and occasionally large rough bones to gnaw and play with, but smaller ones to crunch and eat very rarely. A little fish, too, makes a change of diet, and this is desirable in feeding any pet.

CHAPTER LIV

THE MALTESE

ALL English writers upon dogs, new and old, agree in one thing, and that is, that in centuries long past Malta furnished Toy dogs for the " dainty dames and mincing mistresses" of both Greece and Rome. There also appears to be a general agreement that the Island of Malta is identical with the Melita ascribed by ancient writers as the home of these pet dogs; and, further, that we originally obtained the breed from that place, although some of them recognise the fact that no proof of the supposition exists. Dr. Johannes Caius says (writing, be it remarked, of the Toy Spaniel of his time): "They are called Meliti, of the Island of Malta, whence they were brought hither."

Strabo, who was one of the earliest writers to refer specially to these Toys, does not give Malta as the native place of the breed, but, on the contrary, writes as follows: "There is a town in Sicily called Melita, whence are exported many beautiful dogs, called Canes Melitei. They were the peculiar favourites of the women; but now [A.D. 25] there is less account made of these animals, which are not bigger than common ferrets or weasels; yet they are not small in their understanding nor unstable in their love." Strabo must have been wanting in the organ of comparativeness, or the weasels of his time were of Brobdingnagian proportions compared with ours; but the point is, if Melita, in Sicily, was the birthplace of the so-called Maltese dog, why ascribe its origin to the Island of Malta?

As stated, practically every English writer seems to have taken it for granted that the dog we call Maltese originally came from Malta; but not one offers the slightest proof in support of the assumption. It would be needless to go through the works of these writers seriatim. 'Stonehenge," in his earliest work on the dog, describes the breed as nearly extinct, but, although "scarce, still to be obtained in Malta." He, however, in the same work gives an engraving of a dog, as a Maltese, imported from Manilla. In "The Dogs of the British Islands," still hankering after Malta